What are you reading at the moment?

Manstein said:
Just about to start this I hope the anecdotes are of a similar quality to those of his contemporary Francis Bacon!

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Ooft - that is a well-watered mentalist? I didn't get his work or Bacon - until I stood in front of originals - in the flesh - a fitting metaphor - I think? Reproductions convey very little of the vital, vivid, visceral, plastic, fluid and dynamic quality of their work. Astonishing. Let me know how the book goes - I think I'd like to read that. Yours - I.
 
Digimonkey said:
Ooft - that is a well-watered mentalist? I didn't get his work or Bacon - until I stood in front of originals - in the flesh - a fitting metaphor - I think? Reproductions convey very little of the vital, vivid, visceral, plastic, fluid and dynamic quality of their work. Astonishing. Let me know how the book goes - I think I'd like to read that. Yours - I.
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Well we're off to a good start with the NYT critic...

"Feaver, a longtime art critic for The Observer in London, doesn't provide a fixed portrait of Freud, the great realist painter, so much as he leads us into a studio filled with crusty brushes, scrapers, half-completed canvases, easels, dirty floorboards, mahlsticks and distilled turpentine, and lets us poke through the detritus as if to assemble a likeness for ourselves"
 
Manstein said:
Well we're off to a good start with the NYT critic...

"Feaver, a longtime art critic for The Observer in London, doesn't provide a fixed portrait of Freud, the great realist painter, so much as he leads us into a studio filled with crusty brushes, scrapers, half-completed canvases, easels, dirty floorboards, mahlsticks and distilled turpentine, and lets us poke through the detritus as if to assemble a likeness for ourselves"
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Sounds great. Are there loads of illustrations? Which might make it unsuitable for a Kindle? I.
 
Digimonkey said:
Sounds great. Are there loads of illustrations? Which might make it unsuitable for a Kindle? I.
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Don't buy the Kindle version as this printed version isn't of the first rank as regards print quality. There are many monochrome photos within the text and a group of colour plates but I doubt the Kindle version will do them justice. I'll lend you the book when I've finished it.
 
Digimonkey said:
www.bbc.co.uk

BBC Sounds - Rogue Male by Geoffrey Household - Available Episodes

Listen to the latest episodes of Rogue Male by Geoffrey Household on BBC Sounds
www.bbc.co.uk www.bbc.co.uk

Very much enjoying this classic again. I.

@Scotshave @Blademonkey @Ferry-shave @Missoni
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A truly ripping yarn.

I have been listening to it, in bed, on R4 Extra, where it starts at 6.30 am (coffee time). Last night I left the radio on and went to sleep, then dimly heard it announced. I was surprised that it was already 6.30, until I worked out that the night-time run of "Rogue Male" is at 1.30 am. Two bleary-eyed bites of the same cherry.

Otherwise, I'm reading "News from Tartary", a journey from Peking to Kashmir in 1935, by Peter Fleming, brother of Ian "Bond" Fleming.
 
Ferrum said:
A truly ripping yarn.

I have been listening to it, in bed, on R4 Extra, where it starts at 6.30 am (coffee time). Last night I left the radio on and went to sleep, then dimly heard it announced. I was surprised that it was already 6.30, until I worked out that the night-time run of "Rogue Male" is at 1.30 am. Two bleary-eyed bites of the same cherry.

Otherwise, I'm reading "News from Tartary", a journey from Peking to Kashmir in 1935, by Peter Fleming, brother of Ian "Bond" Fleming.
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The Fleming book is great - I love the understated writing style of guys of his generation - if you had survived the public school system, you weren't going to start blubbing like a girl when your last camel died and you were the only European for a 1000 square miles. If you are enjoying it - I'd recommend anything by Peter Hopkirk - wonderfully researched - historical narratives as wide and sweeping as the terrain they describe.

Cheers - I.

en.wikipedia.org

Peter Hopkirk - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org
 
Digimonkey said:
The Fleming book is great - I love the understated writing style of guys of his generation - if you had survived the public school system, you weren't going to start blubbing like a girl when your last camel died and you were the only European for a 1000 square miles. If you are enjoying it - I'd recommend anything by Peter Hopkirk - wonderfully researched - historical narratives as wide and sweeping as the terrain they describe.

Cheers - I.

en.wikipedia.org

Peter Hopkirk - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org
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Yes to Hopkirk already, but I'd add Eric Newby and Patrick Leigh-Fermor; in the bookshelf and re-read.
 
Ferrum said:
Yes to Hopkirk already, but I'd add Eric Newby and Patrick Leigh-Fermor; in the bookshelf and re-read.
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Granted - A Short Walk in the Hindu Kush - is one of the best books ever written - in any genre.

Reminds you of Gavin Maxwell - and - the shared influence on both those authors? - Thesiger.

How do you find Paul Temple? Currently going out before Rogue Male. yours - I.

@Scotshave
 
Digimonkey said:
Granted - A Short Walk in the Hindu Kush - is one of the best books ever written - in any genre.

Reminds you of Gavin Maxwell - and - the shared influence on both those authors? - Thesiger.

How do you find Paul Temple? Currently going out before Rogue Male. yours - I.

@Scotshave
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I have read, and re-read all of Newby's books, and they always give me pleasure. Apart from the travel books, I always enjoy the "Something Wholesale" and the "Love and War..." autobiographical books.

Another wartime memoir of the same quality and interest is John Verney's "Going to the Wars".

My father gave me the hardback edition of "Arabian Sands", not long after it came out in 1959. At the time, I was in, of all places, pre-independence Aden, and we used to get to the Hadramaut and Lahej. I still have a few of the silver Maria Theresa dollars that were currency in the Yemen, and which, along with the red reflectors off traffic posts, found their way into many a piece of silverwork.

I'm not entirely sure about this Paul Temple version, mainly because, to me, Steve sounds more like a Buck House garden party type in a floral dress and hat, rather than the crimefighting missus.
 
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